For better or worse, Opera has just released the very first build of its WebKit based web browser that aims to blend some of the key Opera features with a far superior rendering engine.

However, before you start giggling like a little school girl, it should be noted that this is a very basic build that lacks tons of features, including basics such as: bookmark importer, bookmarks (that could be replaced with a “Stash”) and other, lesser used features like RSS Reader, customization options, Opera Link, Linux builds and so on. Also, since it uses WebKit, there are no 64 bit builds for Windows.
Basically, what we are saying that this is indeed a preview build.

Ironically, the first link I opened turned out to be a mess due to the tiny fonts, or that’s what I thought. Turns out, this is how text is supposed to look like as the latest browser builds from Google, Microsoft and Mozilla rendered them like this:

Reality can be hard sometimes.

Opera has also decided to remove a mail client from its desktop build and release it as a separate program, which, at least for us, makes no sense. Basically, if you’ve been using Opera to read RSS feeds, you are better of switching to something else (or just keep using Opera 12). Why? This is how it used to work:

Opera > RSS Feeds > Click on a link > Read article > Close tab > You are now reading other RSS items

And this is how it works now:

Opera Mail > RSS Feeds > Click on a link > Opera browser opens > Read article > Close tab > Nothing happens > You now have to navigate back to Opera Mail and waste your time > Click on another link and you are back to the Opera browser

Whoever thought this loop was a good idea is insane.

Anyway, not all is doom and gloom for Opera yet. The team managed to do a pretty good job at porting some of the key features like Speed Dial (now with folders!) and even add new ones. Particular, a feature called “Stash” looks pretty neat, think of it as a way to temporary save great pages without overloading your tab bar. Most importantly, pages load much faster and there are no rendering issues that always bugged Opera users.

So what do we think about Opera 15? Project reboots are hard and require tons of resources (just look at the Windows Phone 8, which still lacks basics that were introduced 10 years ago in Windows Mobile like VPN support, separate volume controls, etc.). Given the timeframe, we are pretty happy with the build that they have managed to come up with and as long as this is not the final build, you should reserve your judgment for the future.

Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism career back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

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Comments (34)

Still the features set for this Next build was so little, actually this was kinda feel like quick clone of Chrome. I will download once it have tab stacking, trash bin, integrated RSS and other old Opera features

They basically made a totally new browser. The user interface was remade from scratch. It’s pretty obvious that with a huge task like that you won’t be able to add tons of features in the first version.

Actually yes, you can. I think the idea is that bookmark importer which is already there opera://bookmark-importer will import all your bookmarks with folders as you have them, not matter how many. And then there is a search bar at top left that will let you easily find any bookmark.

Well you will have to wait till they implement it first I guess. Bunch of features don’t seem to work fully yet and bookmark importer is one of them. So once they fully implement bookmark importer I think the idea is to combine bookmarks with speed dial with search. To have just 1 place for all websites rather than two. That’s only my thought’s, I could be wrong.

Originally posted by thefreeman55: i want all features of opera 12 back

Daniel Aleksandersen ”I can say for sure that that is not going to happen. Have you seen some of the new stuff? The downloads experience should be much better now, for instance. We’ve focused on the core experience of web browsing”

^^^Lets give it up for Opera. For selling out and taking the Google Chrome apporach. The only way Google Chrome knows best as being generic as f*ck. Take out all features that made it unique. For all Opera users out there this is the end my friend. Stick with version 12 forever becuase I PROMISE you this will be the last time you enjoy the browser.

Why all the hate, this is just a preview. They have lots of work to do, at least websites aren’t borken now… I qoute Vygantas – “So what do we think about Opera 15? Project reboots are hard and require tons of resources (just look at the Windows Phone 8, which still lacks basics that were introduced 10 years ago in Windows Mobile like VPN support, separate volume controls, etc.). Given the timeframe, we are pretty happy with the build that they have managed to come up with and as long as this is not the final build, you should reserve your judgment for the future.”

Im hearing they removed the infamous mail cilent because it was ”dependent on the presto engine”. With Blink they will have to rebuild a new interface code and whatever from scratch. Im sure notes suffered the same fate as well and many more =(

Mine reads as: “Start Opera.”
I don’t use RSS and I’m sure the majority doesn’t, so let’s wait for future updates where *important* features are added. I hope they have time to give you integrated RSS though.

That isn’t true. They announced they would base of Chromium, and a few weeks later Google announced Blink. Opera never mentioned webkit, idiots and sheep assumed.

Im so far impressed, it’s a solid foundation to build a great browser upon. Opera have already said it’s not feature complete, but it’s a fine start. I hope some form of RSS panel comes back, that was the core of my workflow too.

Not impressed, when Opera engineers tried to say that Webkit was diverse enough for Opera to remain unique, they were lying b/c this is Chromium ver 29 reskin through and through, uses the same everything, menus, extensions api (able to install Chrome extensions), and rendering engine.

I thought Opera would be the third major wheel in webkit, like how Safari and Chrome were different, but Opera is just a Chromium clone like every other on the market right now.

In fact it is worse from a security standpoint, b/c Opera ripped out the integrated Chrome Flash sandbox.

I can understand why fans are upset. Change is a concept met with skepticism and fear. But please understand. They had to do this. They needed to hack at the beast. It simply was becoming too convoluted. All these “features” were just too much. I always said that a modular design will be best for Opera. Allowing users download individual components and remove others. For a browser catering to the advance and th novice, it is a great prospect.

Now lets come to the positives. Websites do not break. It starts much much faster, It FINALLY terminates itself correctly and releases ram.

I will continue to use chrome until Opera brings most features back and my password manager (dashlane) supports it. It is a much better, simpler, elegant browser than it once was